Since first developed as an alternative for ivory billiard balls in 1868 by John W. Hyatt from the U.S., plastic, which was a ‘God's gift’, has actually become a global nightmare that threatens the ecological balance of earth in the last 150 years. It takes about 450 years for one plastic bottle to break down, and the overall recycling rate thereof is only 9%.
While global environmental pollution caused by these plastics has become currently apparent, there is a need for research and development of a treatment to solve environmental pollution problems or a new material which can be subjected to such a treatment.
A treatment method of reducing environmental pollution problems caused by waste plastics in the related art was, for example, a method of decomposing waste plastics into low molecules by pyrolysis or chemical decomposition and incinerating or burying the low molecules. However, the incineration treatment is accompanied by release of carbon dioxide, and thus may be responsible for global warming, and the case where halogen or sulfur and nitrogen elements are included in plastics may also be responsible for air pollution caused by hazardous gases. When plastics are buried in landfills, most of the resins currently put to practical use are in the residual state for a long period of time. During this period, additives flow out, which is one of the causes of soil pollution.
For these problems, the development of a biodegradable polymer has been actively conducted as a polymer compound which does not adversely affect the global environment, when finally disposed.
As the biodegradable polymer, expensive materials such as polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate (PBAT) and poly(hydroxyalkanoates)(PHA) are main components, and particularly, the PBAT series has functional and economic problems for commercial use due to the low distribution stability and high prices. Further, it may be an alternative to use a polylactic acid (PLA) series which is the most inexpensive among biodegradable resins in order to secure price competitiveness, but when the polylactic acid series is applied to a molded product such as a film, there is a limitation in mechanical properties such as easy tearing of film due to the inherent brittleness of polylactic acid.
Recently, biodegradable polymers that simply decompose after use still require considerable time to decompose, and the reuse and regeneration of limited resources has become a hot issue, and thus the paradigm is shifting to bioplastics that overcome the disadvantages of biodegradable polymers.
In these bioplastics, the importance of innocuousness to the human body, physical properties, strength, productivity, price competitiveness, reuse, and renewability is more emphasized than the problems of how quickly the bioplastics decompose and whether the bioplastics enter the virtuous circle of nature.
Therefore, there is still a need for developing a bioplastic material which is simultaneously excellent in renewability while having the biodegradability of a biodegradable polymer in the related art.